Ex-administrator of NY surgery clinic where man died during liposuction pleads guilty to fraud

Ex-head of surgery clinic pleads guilty to fraud

NEW YORK — The former administrator of a Manhattan cosmetic surgery clinic where a man died while undergoing liposuction has pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

Arthur Kissel pleaded guilty Friday in a Manhattan federal court to health care fraud and mail fraud.

Kissel is also known as Arthur Froom. He admitted that he conspired to rip off insurance companies between 1994 and 1998 at a midtown Manhattan clinic.

Kissel agreed to pay restitution of up to $918,000 when he is sentenced, set for Dec. 15.

Kissel’s plea came a decade after charges were brought because he fought extradition from Canada.

Authorities say a 33-year-old man died of a heart attack while undergoing liposuction at the clinic in 1997.